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Acclaimed Finnish Composer Kaija Saariaho In Residence At Carnegie Hall For Series Of Events, Beginning November 30 & December 1 With Two Concerts By The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra

—THE RICHARD AND BARBARA DEBS
COMPOSER’S CHAIR: KAIJA SAARIAHO—
Avanti! Performs Programs of Contemporary Finnish Music and
Finnish Tango
Upcoming Events Include Performances by St. Louis Symphony
with
David Robertson and Karita Mattila, and The Cleveland
Orchestra with Franz Welser-Möst;Plus Workshop for Young Composers and String Players with Saariaho
and Anssi Karttunen

The acclaimed Finnish
composer Kaija Saariaho begins her season-long
Carnegie Hall residency as holder of The Richard and Barbara Debs
Composer’s Chair with two programs by the Avanti! Chamber
Orchestra on Wednesday,
November 30 and Thursday, December
1 in Zankel Hall.

In spring 2012, music by Ms. Saariaho is the focus of one more
concert in Zankel Hall and two performances in Stern Auditorium/Perelman
Stage. In addition, with cellist and frequent collaborator Anssi
Karttunen, she leads a Carnegie Hall Professional Training
Workshop for young composers and solo string players. Presented by the
Weill Music Institute as part of her residency, the workshop includes a
public master class in Weill Recital Hall and culminates in two final
concerts in Zankel Hall.

Two features have marked Ms. Saariaho’s career and continue to
stand out. One is a close and productive association with individual
artists—including writer Amin Maalouf, director Peter Sellars, conductor
Esa-Pekka Salonen, flute player Camilla Hoitenga, cellist Anssi
Karttunen, sopranos Dawn Upshaw and Karita Mattila, and pianists Emanuel
Ax and Tuija Hakkila. The other is a concern, shown equally in her
choice of subject matter and texts and in the profusion of expression
marks in her scores, to make her music a combination of abstract
processes and an urgent communication from composer to listener of
ideas, images, and emotions.

To see video of Ms. Saariaho’s work and the most up to date
information on her residency, click
here. Ms. Saariaho’s new recording, released by Ondine/Naxos in
September 2011, includes her Clarinet Concerto, D’Om le Vrai Sens,
as well as Laterna Magica for large orchestra, and Leino
Songs for soprano and orchestra, all performed by the Finnish Radio
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo with soprano Anu Komsi
and clarinetist Kari Kriikku. For more information on the recording, click
here.

2011—2012 Debs
Composer’s Chair Kaija Saariaho programs include:

November 30 and December 1: Avanti! Chamber Orchestra
Ms. Saariaho’s Carnegie Hall residency begins with performances on Wednesday,
November 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, December
1 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall with leading Finnish new music
ensemble Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. On the first
evening, the ensemble performs the world premiere of a suite from
Saariaho’s monodrama Emilie, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall,
and Nymphéa (her 1987 breakout string quartet with electronics
originally composed for and recorded by Kronos Quartet); as well as
works by two fellow Finnish composers: Jukka Tiensuu’s Nemo and
Lotta Wennäkoski's Kuule II. For this program, Avanti! is led
by conductor Hannu Lintu and joined by bass clarinet
player Heikki Nikula and soprano Elizabeth
Futral (who performed the North American premiere of the role
of Emilie in the fully staged production of the opera at
Spoleto Festival USA.) A pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Zankel
Hall with Ms. Saariaho in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of
Artistic Planning at Carnegie Hall.

Avanti! returns the following evening, led by Hannu
Lintu and joined by vocalist Markus Allen for a
program of Finnish tangos and light-hearted music written by Finnish
composers. Entitled Finnish Tango: A Journey to The Fairy Land
the program includes works by Kullervo Linna, Toivo Kärki, Jani
Uhlenius, Oskar Merikanto, Jean Sibelius, Pentti Viherluoto, Unto
Mononen, Arvo Koskimaa, Veikko Juntunen, Taisto Wesslin, Ramon Arcado,
and Kaj Chydenius.

March 5: Making Music: Kaija Saariaho
A special Making Music program entitled Voix, Espace
celebrating Ms. Saariaho’s workstakes place on Monday, March 5 at
6:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall. Directed by Rachid Safir,
the evening features a number of Saariaho’s vocal ensemble works
performed by Solistes XXI, with a multimedia
installation by Ms. Saariaho’s husband, the composer and video artist Jean-Baptiste
Barrière. Prior to the performance, Ms. Saariaho will speak
about her music with Jeremy Geffen, Carnegie Hall’s Director of Artistic
Planning. This concert marks the second Carnegie Hall Making Music
program, devoted to Ms. Saariaho’s work; the first occurred in 2003.

March 6–March 12: Professional Training Workshop
From March
6 to March 12, with cellist and frequent collaborator Anssi
Karttunen, Ms. Saariaho leads a Carnegie Hall Professional
Training Workshop for young composers and solo string players (violin,
viola, cello, or bass), presented by the Weill Music Institute. Ms.
Saariaho and Mr. Karttunen will work with the young musicians on
composing new works for string players. The workshop includes a public
master class on Friday,
March 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall and culminates in two
final concerts featuring music by participating composers, in addition
to works by Saariaho, on Sunday, March 11
at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, March 12
at 7:30 p.m., both in Zankel Hall.

March 10: St. Louis Symphony
On Saturday,
March 10 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Music
Director David Robertson conducts the St. Louis
Symphony in Saariaho’s Quatre Instants, featuring
Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, a close friend and
collaborator of the composer’s, for whom the work was written. When Ms.
Mattila premiered the work at the 2003 Ekenäs festival, critics called
the performance “irresistible” (Le Monde). Also on the program
is Debussy’s Printemps and Stravinsky’s complete The
Firebird. A pre-concert talk takes place at 7:00 p.m. with Mr.
Robertson in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Carnegie Hall’s Director
of Artistic Planning.

May 23: The Cleveland Orchestra
On Wednesday,
May 23 at 8:00 p.m. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst
conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in the New York
premiere of Saariaho’s Laterna Magica in Stern
Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The new work was inspired by the
autobiography of Ingmar Bergman. Works by Brahms and Shostakovich
complete the program.

Carnegie Hall’s Composer’s Chair was inaugurated in 1995,
inviting composer appointees to collaborate with Carnegie Hall on
creative aspects of the Hall’s activities. In 1999, the position was
renamed for trustee and chairman emeritus Richard Debs and his wife,
Barbara, in honor of their longstanding commitment to Carnegie Hall and
its artistic goals. Beginning in the 2007–2008 season, the Debs
Composer’s Chair was reconfigured as a one-year position. Previous
holders of Carnegie Hall’s Debs Composer’s Chair include: Brad Mehldau
(2010–2011), Louis Andriessen (2009–2010), Elliott Carter (2008–2009),
Thomas Adès (2007–2008), John Adams (2003–2007), Pierre Boulez
(1999–2003), and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1995–1999).

About The Artists
Born in 1952 in Finland, Kaija Saariaho’s
childhood was full of music, and she learned to play several
instruments. She later studied at the famed Sibelius Academy,
where—with fellow students Esa-Pekka Salonen and Magnus Lindberg, among
others—she co-founded the Korvat auki! (Ears Open!) society,
devoted to the study and performance of contemporary music neglected by
established institutions. Ms. Saariaho’s later studies and research at
Paris’s IRCAM had a major influence on her music. The characteristically
sensuous and mysterious textures heard in her works are rooted in the
combination of live music and electronics in her earlier compositions,
and continue into her works without electronics. Although much of her
catalogue comprises chamber works, she has turned increasingly to larger
forces and broader structures since the mid-1990s, as exemplified in
the operas L’Amour de loin, Adriana Mater, and Emilie,
as well as the oratorio La Passion de Simone. Pianist Emanuel
Ax played the world premiere of Ms. Saariaho’s chamber work, Je
sens un deuxieme Coeur, in Zankel Hall in 2004, and the Emerson
String Quartet performed the world premiere of her Terra Memoria
in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage in 2008. Both works were Carnegie
Hall commissions. Ms. Saariaho awards include the Wihouri Silbelius
Prize, the Nemmers Prize for Music Composition, and the Sonning Music
Prize. In 2015, she will be the judge of the Toru Takemitsu Composition
Award.

Catch a glimpse of the mentoring that goes on in a Weill Music
Institute Professional Training Workshop, as Carnegie Hall’s Debs
Composer’s Chair Kaija Saariaho and Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen, her
frequent collaborator, pass along invaluable advice to teams of young
composers and solo string players.

Professional Training Workshops are made possible, in part, by
Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

This final concert of Kaija Saariaho and Anssi Karttunen’s Weill
Music Institute Professional Training Workshop features participating
composers’ music performed by young solo string players, in addition to
works by Saariaho. Hear music that is new and fresh, all prepared under
the guidance of Carnegie Hall’s Debs Composer’s Chair and the dynamic
Finnish cellist who is her frequent collaborator.

Professional Training Workshops are made possible, in part, by
Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

The Trustees of Carnegie Hall gratefully acknowledge the
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel R. Lewis in support of the 2011-2012
season.

The Carnegie Hall Live broadcast series is sponsored by Duff
& Phelps.

This Carnegie Hall Live broadcast is supported by Macy's.

Please note this concert is being broadcast live on WQXR Radio.

Tickets: $40–$122
___________________________________

Kaija Saariaho is the holder of the 2011–2012 Richard and
Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall.

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie
Hall.

Ticket Information
Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th
Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling
CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website,
carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern
Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10,
will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through
Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance
or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts
and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public
on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office
only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern
Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with
obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold
for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other
discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables
members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.